On January 23rd, I wrote a post titled 30 Days to 10 New Habits, in which I decided I detailed how I would spend the next 30 days attempting to create new habits, or break old ones.

This evening, I wish to spend some time updating you on my progress.

1. Appearance - The goal was to spend the next 30 days preparing myself for the world as if I were going out on a job interview, or date. So far so good, with the exception of one day, I have every day gotten out of bed, showered and shaved, and dressed appropriately. There have been a few occasions where I was wearing shorts, but I made sure that I looked presentable for company.
2. Finger Nails - The goal, for the next 30 days I would not pick at my finger nails. I have hit this goal every day with 100% accuracy. I have caught myself getting ready to pick at my nails, but stopped myself before actually doing it.
3. To Do List - The goal was to create a to do list every day, follow through with it through out the day, then update it at night moving unfinished tasks onto tomorrow’s list. This goal I have not had much success with, in fact I have failed at this particular goal.
4. Clean My Car - The goal was to clean my car daily, and wash it at least weekly, while vacuuming it out at least once every other week. As far as keeping my car clean I am currently hitting around .800. I failed to wash my car this week, and have not made the opportunity to vacuum it out once.
5. Writing - The goal was to find at least one hour a day to spend on writing something outside of this blog. I have failed at this goal too.
6. Eating - The goal was to get back to some of the health eating patterns I developed right after my lap band surgery, as well as updating my lap band blog. While I have been successful at not eating past a certain time at night, I have noticed that for some reason I seem to be hungry all of the time. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the increased energy I am burning while working. This has affected my grazing habits, while I may not eat past a certain time at night, I am still grazing much more than I am comfortable with.
7. Exercise - The goal was to find at least 30 minutes a day to just move. Currently I am getting more than enough exercise with my new job. I know some people would argue that I should be exercising outside of work, but right now that’s just impossible for me to do physically. I am proud that I am able to get through an eight hour work day where I am on my feet, moving 100% of the time. As my health, strength, and endurance increases, I will begin to add some real exercise back into my life.
8. Random Acts of Kindness - My goal was to perform at least one random act of kindness a day, I am once again batting about .800 here. There are days, like today where I didn’t leave the house, so I was unable to really accomplish this goal, but when I am out and about, I make certain to do something that would brighten someone’s day.
9. Meditation / Prayer - The goal was to find time in the morning, during the middle of the day, and night to meditate. I am proud to say that I am batting a .1000 here. In fact I’m doing much better than that. I find myself meditating at numerous times throughout the day, even if its just going through a little chant to get me through the day. My lunch is spent in my car, where I take that time to turn on some classical music, and once again go through my mantra, and do some deep breathing exercises.
10. Organize - The goal was to try to organize at least one aspect of my life each day, whether it was just organizing a drawer in my bedroom, my glove box whatever, as well as start a financial diary. Initially this goal I was hitting every day with the exception of the financial diary. I started off a bit slow, but went out and bought myself a little organizer for my receipts. Then Randi helped me set up Quicken on my laptop, and now I’m proud to say that every day I enter my daily spending into the ledger and am keeping track of where my money goes.

As far as organizing goes, this last week it was tough to just get through the day physically. Most days I worked, then came home and went directly to bed, where I laid there nursing my pains until I fell asleep, then got up and did it all over again. In fact, my room was a bit tore up this week, due to the fact that I couldn’t even bend over to pick things up without fear of throwing my back out. But today I spent the day cleaning it up, and organizing my closet.

As you can see, I did not meet all my goals, but the important thing is that I am trying and I am meeting some of them.

The elevator to success is out of order today. You’re going to have to take the stairway, one step at a time. — Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

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30 Days to 10 New Habits

As a part of my whole restructuring of my life, I have decided to compartmentalize some goals in order that they be more achievable, rather than have the impression of being overwhelming.

I am currently working on an in depth goal workbook, that I will soon publish on my website, this workbook will cover all of my short term, and long term goals. But for now, I want to put into action, a few small goals involving action that I want to turn into habits that I feel will improve upon my quality of life.

There is evidence that suggests it takes 21-28 days to either create new habits, or break old ones, I decided to round up to 30 days. There is also evidence that suggests that the practice of self-regulation has an overflowing effect on other aspects of your life. Groups who were asked to manage their money for a period of time not only showed an increase in the amount they were saving from 8% - 36%, they also showed an increase in study time, and a decrease in cigarette usage. Similar results were experienced in a study focusing on exercise.

I will be starting my new habits today, 01-23-08, and I will be reporting every few days on how my new habits are coming along.

My 10 New Habits:

So there you have it, sounds like I will be pretty busy right? What with all the books I plan on reading, as well as working a full-time job. Well it is definitely worth the extra work. I have been on “vacation” for almost two years now, I have let my life slip by, and it is now time to regain control.

I welcome those who are reading this, friends, family, strangers alike, to challenge me daily when you see me. Ask me how my new 10 habits are going, inspect my appearance, check to see if my car is clean (it isn’t now, but it will be by this afternoon).

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Libraries: The medicine chest of the soul. ~Library at Thebes, inscription over the door

I am grateful for the public library. That is an understatement of gigantic proportions. To this day I remember the very first time I walked into a library, it was the downtown branch of the Fort Worth Public Library System, and I was amazed at how many books there were, and the whole loaning concept just boggled my mind. All those books could be mine, even if for just a short time, and all I had to do was ask, and ask I did.

I was an avid reader as a child, my love affair with books began when a RIF book mobile showed up in the parking lot of the shopping center my mother frequented. RIF, which stood for “reading is fundamental,” was such a great concept. Show up in a colorful bus filled with books and let children take one home for free. By the time I entered elementary school I had my own library of free RIF books, which I eventually passed on to my nieces.

Then there were my adolescent years, when my sister got what I considered a dream job working at the newly built main branch of the Fort Worth Public Library System. This meant that during the summer, while she worked, I would get to hang out in the library all day long under her watchful eye. The library over the years had become my temple, a place to go and worship the written word.

After my weight loss surgery, I found that I was once again able to read and not fall asleep before I finished one single page. Due to my obesity, I had developed sleep apnea, and was constantly exhausted, so anytime I would even sit down and attempt to read a book, my eyes would soon close. But losing over eighty pounds this far, has cured that. I now get a restful five to six hours of sleep each night.

Now that I can read again, I ventured down to the West Sahara branch of the Clark County Library system, and signed myself up for a card, and I have been once again worshiping at my favorite alter, finding inspiration hidden deep within the Dewey decimal system.

So, here it is I present to you, my 2008 book reading challenge. I have set up for myself a goal to read at least 1 book a week for the next year. If you choose to follow along, or are just interested in what I am currently reading, or have planned on reading in the near future, you can do so HERE.

I am grateful for the public library, who, because I only asked, will let me have all the free books I want, even if only for a short time.

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Our ideals resemble the stars, which illuminate the night. No one will ever be able to touch them. But the men who, like the sailors on the ocean, take them for guides, will undoubtedly reach their goal. — Carl Shurz

What is a dream board or Vision Board?

I know my friends who have visited this site see my dream board in the top right corner are wondering what it is I’m doing.

In it’s most simplistic definition, a dream board, or vision board is a a visual image or interpretation of the dreams and visions you have for your life.

The idea behind a dream board is to “dream it, create it, become it.” In order to help you visualize these dreams you have for yourself you take some cork board, or poster board and find pictures of different things that represent what you want for your life, or in your life.

These pictures can represent material things such as a house, a new car, an IPOD. They can represent goals you have in your life in your career, your education. But they need to be defined, they need to be specific. Don’t just say you want a new car, name the year, make and model. I have found the exact car I want right now and put a picture of that on my dream board.

You can find the pictures on the net and print them out, or in a magazine and cut them out. Then using paste, tape or thumbtacks attach the pictures to your dream board and place it in a very conspicuous place that you will see every morning when you wake up, and every night before you go to bed.

I have created my dream board as a wallpaper / desktop background for my computer. This way I see my dream board all throughout the day as I work on my computer.

Why should you have a dream board?

Once again it is a visual reminder of the dreams you have for yourself.

Present day humans pretend to be busy species unlike our cavemen counterparts. We are no longer preoccupied with just trying to survive the day by hunting and gathering the necessary items in order to achieve such a primal goal. We can achieve survival each day in just a matter of minutes, the rest of the day is filled with activities we feel are necessary, but in reality only serve to keep us from getting bored.

It is during these times of activities that we tend to forget what we truly feel is important in order to achieve some sort of “happiness.” The dream board is there to remind you what it is you want out of this short visit we get to the big blue marble. It also serves as a reminder how our dreams can and do change, as we change. So be sure to update your dream board as you achieve those goals and desires.

What is on my dream board?

This is what I am creating in my reality:

• A healthy relationship with a caring lady friend.
• A degree from college
• A career in comedy
• Travel destinations
  • Europe
  • A trip with my family to Disneyland
  • China
  • Southeast Asia - Thailand, Vietnam
• A brand new black 2008 Chrysler 300
• $100,000.00 by 12/31/2008
• A new home

As I said I will be updating this board as I reach old goals and set new ones.  Just a reminder, thoughts become things.

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OK time to be honest, I didn’t get my car. But here’s the funny thing. I spend night after night looking at pictures of this car, if you look just to the right on my dream board you will see this car but in black. I also lie in bed every night visualizing myself driving this car, taking it out on the town to show friends and family. I even visualize each and every street I take, I see myself making the turns, hitting the turn signal, changing the stations on the radio, I can feel the steering wheel in my hands. I even imagine how good it smells.

Well come Monday there will be a Silver 2007 Chrysler 300 sitting in our garage, it is my roommate’s car, but it is strange how things like this happen, I sit here and visualize this car every night and there will be one here that I will see every day until I get mine.

A friend of mine Randi was even kidding me tonight saying, “Its almost here Cary.” It is almost here, I can feel it, I am grateful that my car will be here before the year is up and I will be posting pictures of me standing next to it and sitting in it, and in both pictures I’ll be grinning from ear to ear.

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My New Years Resolutions

A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. — Anonymous

To say that I am excited about 2008 would be an understatement. I anticipate every day, I am so excited about what the future brings it is so hard for me to live in the present, which brings me to my New Years Resolutions.

• Learn to forgive my self - I will cite the “I am only human” excuse, which is true. I have my faults, and my flaws, and I recognize and owe up to the responsibility for the mistakes I have made in the past. It has been hard for me to get over some of those mistakes and forgive myself so I can move on to greater things. This I feel is extremely important for me to work on this year, this is by far the most important resolution I have.
• Learn to live in the present - We cannot forget the past we can only learn from it, nor can we really concern ourselves about the future. The only thing we can deal with is right now, the present, and this is something I really need to work on. I can be a worrier, I have been a worrier as far back as my memories go. I was reading the newspaper by the time I was five years old and my mother had told me often that she thought as a child that I shouldered too many of the world’s problems.
• Learn to anticipate the future - Once again we should not worry about the future, we should live in the present but anticipate the future and what it brings.

I could write resolutions all day long about how I will be more organized, I will lose weight, I will start exercising, blah blah blah… but I feel if I can just work with these three resolutions I will find the solutions to any and all other problems I need to work on, so there you have it, my New Years Resolutions. I would love to hear yours.

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